EXTERIOR
RESTORATION
Day 1
First thing's first - In order to see what really needs to be done to the exterior of the house needed a really good cleaning. We used a pressure washer on the lowest setting with a chemical wash. This pulled off all of the dirt, algae and grime.
The next step was to put on a new roof. This took awhile because the previous owners put shingles on top of an asbestos roof and in order for everything in the future to be done correctly both had to be removed. It took the roofers almost 3 weeks to remove and install the new roof. We used Certainteed Landmark Moire Shingles and they should last a long long time.
SIDING AND TRIM RENOVATION
THE OLDEST CYPRESS SHINGLES
The oldest shingles on the house are stamped on the back The Everglade Cypress Co. - Loughman, FLA."
Loughman in 1910 was an important industrial center, with a population of 721. The Everglade Cypress Company was the main industry. The company built homes for all the mill workers. The pond in the right foreground was used to float the logs after they were brought in by rail. Cables lifted the logs to the mill. The tram railroad crossing the picture diagonally extended far into the state to haul logs. The lumber company was converted to a citrus canning operation in the 1930s, but failed. The entire mill was dismantled and sold for junk. The houses were sold and most were moved to other locations.
In doing research on this shingle company I came across
Zora Neale Hurston, who was honored with a U.S Stamp issued
in December 2002.
In her book “Mules and Men” written in 1935 she relates her experience in the Everglade Cypress Lumber Company, in Loughman, Florida.
She says:
“Cliffert Ulmer told me that I’d get a great deal more (stories of their lives) by going out with the swamp- gang. He said they lied a plenty while they worked. I spoke to the quarters boss and the swamp boss and both agreed that it was all right, so I strowed it all over the quarters that I was going out to the swamp with the boys next day. My own particular crowd, Clffert, James, Joe, Willard, Jim Allen and Eugene Oliver were to look out for me and see to it that I didn’t get snake-bit nor ‘gator-swallowed. The watchman, who sleeps out in the swamps and gets up steam in the skitter every morning before the men get to the cypress swamp, had been killed by a panther two weeks before, but they assured me that nothing like that could happen to me; not with the help I had.
Having watched some members of that swamp crew handle axes, I didn’t doubt for a moment that they could do all that they said. Not only do they chop rhythmically, but they do a beautiful double twirl above their heads with the ascending axe before it begins that accurate and birdlike descent. They can hurl their axes great distances and behead moccasins or sink the blade into an alligator’s skull. In fact, they seem to be able to do everything with their instrument that a blade can do. It is a magnificent sight to watch the marvelous co-ordination between the handsome black torsos and the whirling axes. So next morning we were to be off to the woods.
It wasn’t midnight dark and it wasn’t day yet. When I awoke the saw-mill camp was a dawn gray. You could see the big saw-mill but you couldn’t see the smoke from the chimney. You could see the congregation of shacks and the dim outlines of the scrub oaks among the houses, but you couldn’t see the grey quilts of Spanish Moss that hung from the trees.
Dick Willie was the only man abroad. It was his business to be the first one out. He was the shack-rouser. Men are not supposed to over-sleep and Dick Willie gets paid to see to it that they don’t. Listen to him singing as he goes down the line. “Wake up, bullies, and git on de rock. ‘Taint quite daylight but it’s four o’clock.’ Coming up the next line, he’s got another song. ‘Wake up Jacob, day’s a breakin’. Git yo’ hoe-cake a bakin’ and yo’ shirt tail shakin’.”
...about that time you see a light in every shack. Every kitchen is scorching up fat-back and hoe-cake. Nearly every skillet is full of corn-bread. But some like biscuit-bread better. Broke you hoe-cake half in two. Half on the plate, half in the dinner-bucket. Throw in your black-eyed peas and fat meat left from supper and your bucket is fixed. Pour meat grease in your plate with plenty of cane syrup. Mix it and sop it with your bread. A big bowl of coffee, a drink of water from the tin dipper in the pail. Grab your dinner-bucket and hit the grit. Don’t keep the straw-boss waiting...”
It is not lost on us the history and importance of saving these shingles. We are making sure that every single one is cared for and saved. The grueling lives these men led so that our house, 100 years later, would have this history, will be celebrated.
400 Year Old Cypress Tree
In addition the the above shingles, there were "new" shingles added. The sunroom was, at some point, a porch. When it was enclosed "new cypress shingles were brought in to match. The siding shingles are a mix of cypress 400 year old cypress tree and cedar. In the literature left behind from the previous owners was this note and photos.
The old cypress lumber used for this wood project came from a 32 inch diameter log found along the banks of the Econ river near Chuluota. The logs were found by a surveying crew while surveying the land for new homes. It was speculated that the land was logged sometime before 1940. For some reason the loggers dropped the large Cypress trees and left them behind Possibly the trees were too large to haul out of the woods or maybe because there was some pecky in the logs. Pecky cypress is now a prized wood and is very hard to find The logs lay on the ground for 60 years through rain, floods, and yes fires too. There was a very important reason why these valuable logs were left behind but only the logging crew knows for sure.
I rescued these logs before they were taken to the landfill or even burned to ashes. The logs were cut on our sawmill and dried in our kiln to 6% moisture content. The rough cypress lumber was than converted into the project before you in my wood shop. I hope you enjoy this project as much as I enjoyed retrieving a cypress log that would have been lost forever.
Bob Hughes - Ole General Store Geneva Florida
Because of the history of these Cypress shingles it is important to us to salvage and keep as many of the shingles as we can. All of these old growth Cypress trees and forests are now extinct.
Doing mockups is the best way for us to visualize the finished product. I do it for a lot of larger projects. Right now we're playing with colors for the exterior. Our first choice is the lighter stain with black trim. Staining the siding this color will be dependent on how the test staining goes. If we're not happy with what we get, then we will go with our second choice (which we still love) the black stain and white trim.
We are just in the beginning stages of this part. There is a ton of wood/shingle replacement that has to be done. Some of the beadboard facia is dry rotted and so is some of the window trim. We have a lot of missing, loose and cracked shingles that will need to be replaced and the correct i.e. matching cedar replacement shake shingles still need to be determined.
It's going to take a lot of time and work to get the house ready for paint and stain so we have plenty of time to figure out the color choices.
The first thing to do the exterior is adding these cypress trim boards (Above). They will serve a few purposes:
1. Aesthetics - By running these boards (which will be painted) on the corners, it frames in the shake shingles and puts them in a "container" Because the house sits on the lot at an angle the main view of the house is a 3/4 view. These vertical boards help the viewers eye easily determine the angles of the house that before, would get muddied.
2. Water invasion - These vertical boards will also keep any water from leaking into the house on the seams.
3. Gutters - The copper gutter downspouts will attach to these boards instead of running them down shingle siding. This will make the beautiful copper pop off the black painted cypress and add a really nice aesthetic.
While the new cypress boards and window skirt boards are being added, each shingle is getting sanded and tested for integrity. If a shingle is cracked it will be replaced and if it is loose it will be nailed.
A quick pass with 80 grit sandpaper on an orbital sander is all it takes to remove the crud and reveal the beautiful wood underneath. After the whole house gets sanded it will be ready for a wash and then stain.
You can see more of the sanding in the pic below. The cypress skirt boards and Z flashing have also been added to the bottom windows.
The sanding of the front is now complete as you can see in the pic below. Every shingle has been tested for integrity and any failing the test has been replaced or re-nailed.
Now it's time to work around the entire house in the same manner. We will be adding skirt boards to all of the windows and sanding the shingle siding.
The original round columns are not original at all. In fact they were hardly even attached to the overhang. You can see them in the original pic below taken on Day 1. They are hollow, light and the metal at the bottom of each is spray painted flashing.
The new columns have 6x6 pressure treated posts inside the exterior. The exterior of the columns are cypress. Now these columns are actually functioning. We went with a more Craftsman style column rather than the round Colonial. Usually a colonial column would be painted, but since we will be staining these, Craftsman made more sense to us. We are however, adding decorative trim to them that matches the crown and window trim so everything is harmonious. I also have caps for the bottom of the columns, but they will be installed until after the tile is replaced with flagstone.
Next, I removed the busted up screen door. The front door is very large, very old and very heavy. On the bottom half, all of the stain has been washed away. On the top half, there is thick dripping old lacquer.
I used a chemical stripper and an orbital sander removing as much of the old finish as I could.
Because this door is so heavy, I'm going to stain it while its hanging. I'm using Modern Masters Espresso Gel Stain. This is my favorite brand. It's very saturated, and very high quality. I brush on the stain, starting with all of the raised panels. As I finish each strip I wipe away with an old tee shirt revealing the grain.
I used a tarnish remover on the door knocker, handle and locks, and then brushed on 2 coats of Modern Masters Flat Clear Coat. The final step was to add a wreath. The door jamb and the trim needs to be stained and painted, but we're pretty happy with the finished front door.
STAIN & PAINT
After a ton of research and tests we finally decided on the finished materials.
We ran quite a few color tests on the stain and decided to go with Transparent Olympic Elite Mountain Cedar.
Olympic ELITE: A premium wood stain and sealer. This transparent wood stain adds color while still allowing the wood grain and texture to show. This super-premium exterior wood stain is formulated to protect and enhance the natural look of wood while providing protection and beauty through all seasons and provides a powerful mold, mildew and algae-resistant finish. All backed by a lifetime guarantee.
PAINT
BENJAMIN MOORE
Black Satin - Regal Flat Finish
This color is part of Color Preview. A collection of bold, saturated colors that brings spaces to life for those looking to illuminate their world with pure, extraordinary color. Rich and sleek, this classic black exudes effortless style.
This dark black is perfect for the trim. It's not a generic black, it has a dusting of blue undertones and a hair lighter than jet black.
Fist thing to do now that all of the wood work is complete is to give the house a good washing. No chemicals are being used and a light setting on the pressure washer is perfect. Enough to get rid of the grime, but not hard enough to damage the wood.
After the house is washed we allow it to fully dry for a couple days. We'll be starting with the trim first and after that is complete, the stain will be applied.
Below is a photo of the exterior the day we purchased the home and the photo below that was taken the day before painting started.
You can see some of the black paint test on the bottom right corner.
Below are before and after close ups of the front of the house. You can really see how much clean-up was actually done in these shots.
Below is a before and after of the back of the house. You can see in the after shot that the awning is no longer there. We had to take it down in order to clean up the house, paint and stain. Once everything is completed it will go back up.
We also installed 12" flashing that runs the length of the awning preventing any rain from running down the house wall. I've also thoroughly cleaned the awning and waterproofed it.
You can really see the difference a new roof, deck and shingle replacement and clean up has done.
We also replaced the rotted, falling apart, bathroom door with a wood grain fiberglass door (not yet stained). We wanted to keep the stain glass, so we just inserted it into the new door.
DAY 1
Below is after the first day. Starting with the trim and facia most of the front is finished. All of the windows still need to be painted and it needs a second coat, but it's looking exactly as we have imagined. It's supposed to be sunny all week, so I'm excited to see how much can be accomplished
DAY 2
More of the black paint was added today around the windows and trim. Tomorrow will be finishing up the paint on the front and then giving everything a second coat.
DAY 3
The sunroom got its first coat of black paint as well as the parlor door and windows. After the entire house is finished with the black paint a second coat will be applied.
THE STAIN
Now that the painting is complete, It's time for the stain. The stain goes on really dark. Not to worry though, because as it dries it gets lighter, and as it cures it gets even lighter.
Below is the photo from the day we moved in. Under that is the mockup that I created in Photoshop. We used my mockup rendering as a blueprint of what we wanted the house to look like once it was finished.
This is a great example of the importance of knowing exactly what you want before you start. It makes the process a lot easier if you know what it's supposed to look like when it's done.
We hated the terra cotta tile color and our intention is to have a mason create a new porch and steps with flagstone. It's on the list of things to do, but it's pretty far down on that list. A quick fix it to just paint it. I used Gator Grip that I got at a local Benjamin Moore store. GATOR GRIP is a single component, COMMERCIAL DUTY, LOW V.O.C LOW ODOR pigmented acrylic coating. Based on Nano Technology, GATOR GRIP demonstrates outstanding adhesion to a wide range of substrates including most coatings. GATOR GRIP incorporates a chemical curing mechanism that achieves fast initial water resistance and curing, and continues to harden and cure for 7-10 days after application to give a harder, tougher finish and more marking resistance than conventional water-based coatings and even most solvent-based sealers.
I had it color matched to the house trim and added non skid sand to it so it isn't slippery. I think this will be perfectly fine for now.
I also added a beautiful light from Rejuvenation.com.
WILDWOOD SEMI-FLUSH MOUNT Arts and Crafts Semi Flush Fixture with an opal acorn shade.
From Rejuvenation:
The Wildwood Semi-Flush Mount fixture adds a lovely Arts & Crafts touch to any room by gracing the ceiling with a trefoil canopy cast from a hand-carved mold.
When we first decided to reproduce this family of Arts & Crafts fixtures, we tried to duplicate the detailed design using 3-D computer modeling. Not surprisingly, the software wasn't subtle enough to get the deep grooves, beveled edges, and natural curves we wanted. So we turned to a time-tested method we knew would work: making them by hand.
There are some touch ups that need to happen to the exterior. At some point these shingles were painted white. One of the previous owners had the paint stripped, but there is still some white paint stuck in some of the cracks. There is also some wood filler that the stain didn't take to. I'm using high end acrylic paint and mixing matching colors to paint over the old paint and wood filler to perfectly match the stained wood. Below are a couple examples. I'm slowly making my way around the entire house and doing touch ups.
You can see in the above pics that the new columns have been stained. Because the cypress is new wood, they are way lighter than the rest of the beams, and they just don't look finished.
First I took a stainable caulk and filled every crack and gap in the columns. Then I used silicon around the base. My goal was to make them completely water tight. Then I used a gel stain and glazed both columns. After that dried, 3 coats of Modern Masters Matte Clear Coat was applied.
As you can see in the photos below, they turned out great. They match the house perfectly now and look as though they have always been there.
